5. Go to Disney with the kids.

Disney World is one of those iconic milestones each kid should have. I vividly remember my visits there as a kid, and Jay remembers their whole family trekking there and camping, including the armadillo they saw. So, last year, as a test run, we went to Disneyland in California. When the kids enjoyed it and we didn’t want to run away screaming from the park, we decided to book a big Disney World trip this year.

After months of planning, asking my mom to go, and a lot of anal-retentive planning on my part (yes, the girls matched every day, what’s it to you?) we climbed aboard a plane to Orlando.

Addi and Grandma, ready to take off

[Let me just say right now, I’m going to go into a lot of boring details – mostly so I don’t forget. If you don’t want to hear all about Disney, you should go away now.]

I’m not always the most emotional person – but when I started crying on the bus to the hotel, I knew I was done for. Man, those videos of kids being surprised really got to me. From that part on, the brochures were totally right. Disney really is magical. Pulling up the Wilderness Lodge Resort, we were whisked inside and in no time had our room, our stroller, and groceries being delivered. Our room was a one bedroom villa, so my mom had her own space and the Ralphs had their own. We got settled and headed to Epcot.

Daddy, Addi and Sam

That was when we realized this was not the Disney of our former 10 year old selves. This Disney was BIG. Much bigger than we remembered, with more parks, more princesses, and a lot more food. So we took it easy at Epcot, riding Soarin’ (so, so fun by the way) and having dinner at our hotel restaurant (Whispering Canyons Café, so fun and yummy!) and headed to bed.

More to come...